Wow. Another semester of college finally over, and I’d have to say it was my busiest yet. Of course, spring ’11 is already looking like it will be even busier, so I’d better write a post or two now while I can…
Things have come quite a ways in the couple of months since my last post. AT&T has actually released a documentary on the dangers of texting and driving, urging people to wait for a less laceratingly stupid moment to broadcast their lives. For all you skeptics out there, yes, a phone company really does seem to care. I have proof:
I like this new direction that AT&T is taking. Of course it’s not nearly enough, but it is a nice little first step in the right direction. The key, in my not-so-humble opinion, is still enforcement. Take away the possibility of this distraction happening at all, and the problem is solved. Otherwise there will almost inevitably be someone who just has to tap out a last deadly “LOL” to one of their friends, regardless of how much blood is spilled as a result.
So yes, kudos to AT&T for doing this documentary. It’s really great and all, but it doesn’t really solve any problems on a significant scale. Now that they’ve shown a desire to do something about texting while driving, however, why don’t they actually do something about it? If they’re having trouble coming up with ideas, may I suggest this? Excerpt:
The ideal option would be to disable any non-emergency calls to or from any phone that’s moving too fast. This could be done at the network level, with triangulation technology that’s almost certainly already in place and being actively used. People could still call 911 while driving, but they wouldn’t be able to send or receive any other calls or messages until they pulled over and stopped.
Admittedly, it would take wider adoption than just one provider to make it effective. A federal regulation requiring the system to be in place by a certain date would probably be the way to handle it, and what better proponents than the very corporations at the heart of the problem right now? Apparently Sprint has been involved in some initiatives as well, so maybe it’s time for a joint request from Sprint and AT&T (along with any others willing to join in) for future legislation to require use of this sort of technology (which they could develop) by all service providers.
What do you think, AT&T? Ready to put your money where your mouth is?
Posted by Justin 
